Client: CUNA Mutual

Overview

CUNA Mutual Group, commissioned Dyani White Hawk to create this two-panel mosaic installation, 114 x 153 in. per panel, for their newly constructed campus. CUNA Mutual prioritized Native applicants as an intentional part of the visual presence for this highly visible aspect of the lobby area. The murals flank a large, multi-use digital screen installed for communication purposes

Goals

As both a working artist and a curator, much of White Hawk’s work has focused on increasing the recognition, inclusion, and celebration of Native artists. Native artists, despite their Indigenous connections to this land, have historically, and continue to be, wildly underrepresented in major museums and public art projects. The artist was born and raised in Madison, WI. She creates works that speak through symbolism that is strongly rooted in who she is as a Lakota woman yet are also meant to connect with all of humanity. This provides an opportunity for cross-cultural education and emphasizes the importance of intersectionality. She creates work that resonates first in the body, but also has a conceptual foundation. She believes that beauty has medicinal properties, much like the healing provided when one stands in awe of the beauty within nature and creation, and that art can serve a similar function, filling our spirits in unique and vitally important ways.

Process

The artist was invited to a two-week residency at Mayer of Munich studios, to learn about their processes, experiment with materials and enmesh herself in the life of the studio. A grant from Forecast for Public Art helped fund the travel expenses for the residency. After spending two weeks working in the Mayer of Munich studios, she gained an understanding of the many approaches that are possible. She built strong relationships and friendships with the staff and leadership in both the New York City and Munich offices. Her painting and mixed media practice reflects the cross-cultural experiences of her life: a combination of influences from modern abstract painting and abstract Lakota art forms. Some of her work is executed strictly in paint on canvas, other times she incorporates materials such as beads, porcupine quillwork, and buckskin, weaving aesthetics and concepts from multiple intertwined histories. Our artisans in Munich found innovative ways to express the textures and subtle palette reflected in the organic nature of her materials.

Additional Information

A 2023 MacArthur Fellow, Dyani White Hawk was born on October 31, 1976, in Madison, Wisconsin, where she grew up; she currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Dyani White Hawk received an AA (2003) from Haskell Indian Nations University, a BFA (2008) from the Institute of American Indian Arts, and an MFA (2011) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2011 to 2015, she served as gallery director and curator for All My Relations Gallery in Minneapolis. Her work is in the collections of the Guggenheim Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Walker Art Center, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Denver Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Tweed Museum of Art, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Akta Lakota Museum among other public and private collections.